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Gabrielle Chanel, better known as Coco Chanel, used to say:
“Nature gives you the face you have at twenty; it is up to you to deserve the face you have at 50”.
Plastic surgeons are trained to “know how to look”. It goes beyond the medical, it is intertwined with the purely artistic. It is perhaps the only surgical speciality that has this particularity. It is innate, after a while, to unconsciously observe someone and evaluate their features, their shapes, their skin.
As the largest organ of the body, the skin has several functions (up to 21 according to specialised texts). There are simple, basic steps you can (and should) take to look after it. Not only for beauty reasons, but also for your health.
A diet deficient in vitamins and minerals does not help to counteract oxidative stress and cellular ageing. On the other hand, diets rich in simple carbohydrates or fats increase the adipose panniculus rapidly and tighten the elastic fibres of the skin, causing the well known “stretch marks”, which are nothing more than scars of the dermis, its intermediate layer. They DO NOT DISAPPEAR. They can improve, they can be masked, but there are no 100% effective treatments.
Drinking plenty of fluids, especially in the tropics, helps to keep the skin hydrated and prevent it from drying out too much or the epidermis from cracking quickly.
Sun damage or “photodamage” is important for fair skin. Few people know that solar radiation is cumulative, it does not just go away after going to the beach and avoiding the sun for a while. All the damage to DNA, to those covalent bonds broken by UV rays, is expressed with age (less efficient compensation mechanisms): from a simple “solar lentigo” (skin spots) to an epidermoid carcinoma (malignant tumour).
The billion-dollar beauty industry has long promoted “anti” products. Few things are as bogus as an anti-wrinkle cream that “magically” removes facial flaws. There are NO shortcuts or miracle solutions. While it is true that they improve the quality of the skin, their effect is temporary. They only act on the outermost layers (epidermis and part of the dermis) given how difficult it is to penetrate an organ whose function is precisely to serve as an insulator from the external environment and which also grows from the inside out. In other words, the melanocytes that are stimulated will die and desquamate within days. Ironically, perhaps the best definition of these products is: “ephemeral beauty”.
Fashions, outfits, trends will pass. Change always takes time and effort. Results are never momentary. Maintaining an adequate aesthetic requires permanent care and attention. A healthy, balanced life, minimising stress, improves our main letter of presentation. Because keep in mind: you can fool your friends, family, doctor, even yourself… but never your body.
